


how you get the boy

by markforlater



Category: NCT (Band), SuperM (Korea Band)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Friendzone, Light Angst, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining, infidelity but not between the main leads, lots of pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:47:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29322654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/markforlater/pseuds/markforlater
Summary: Apart from airports, Mark and Lucas have been each other’s constant through ups and downs for the past ten years.They’re good friends.Way too good, in Lucas’ opinion, and he decided he doesn’t want to be just Mark’s friend anymore.
Relationships: Mark Lee/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Kudos: 18
Collections: In Another Life





	how you get the boy

**Author's Note:**

> This work is based on the movie Friend Zone ระวัง..สิ้นสุดทางเพื่อน (2019). I have taken creative liberties and adjusted it to fit Lumark but it does follow the plot very closely. 
> 
> To the prompter : I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> To the mods : thank you for being so amazing and understanding you guys really put your 110% into this fest and I really enjoyed being a part of it.

SEOUL → JEJU

It all starts one March afternoon Lucas is flopped across Mark’s bed flipping through his battered copy of The Great Gatsby. He had recently gotten his license and Mark took full advantage of his best friend privileges to skip 6th period and head back to his house. Mark’s parent’s both worked at the hospital in the heart of Gangnam and oftentimes weren’t home till late so that meant days like this weren't uncommon. Not that Lucas minded, senior year was mostly a breeze since college apps were all done and now it was just a waiting game till graduation. That didn't discourage Mark from dragging Lucas on little adventures before the eventuality of adulthood sucked them into responsibility and other such things.

But on this day it was strangely silent. Mark usually sang while playing his guitar or filled the silence with his usual musings about something or the other. In that way, Mark is predictable. Silences were not his thing. Awkward or not. So Lucas continues to pretend that he can’t see the figurative cogs turning in Mark’s head as he leans back in his chair playing the same three notes again and again.

“Lucas.”

“hmm?” He replies. The music has stopped. He doesn’t bother to look up at where Mark is now most likely chewing on his fingernails, stills his hand on the book, and waits.

“I think my dad is cheating on my mom.”

The silence stretches taut and thin as Lucas turns to look at Mark. His face is pale and his fingernails are slightly bleeding from where he had been abusing them over the course of the day. The anxiety was seeping off him in waves a far cry from the relaxed demeanor he usually presented.

It was hard to imagine Mr. Lee who had basically raised Mark on his own during his wife’s residency and acted more like a father to him than Lucas’s own having an affair. The same Mr. Lee who had baked him a birthday cake for his 16th birthday when his parents were going through a nasty divorce, and hadn’t had the time to pay attention to him. But if Mark had said he’d seen something there must be a reason for it.

“He said he was going to Jeju for a conference.” Mark’s lips wobbled and he began studying his nails like they were the most interesting thing in the world. “I found reservations for a couples getaway, but Mom’s working this weekend.”

He leans over and pulls a crumpled flyer out of his guitar case and presents it like it's someone’s puked filled shoe. The startling pink flyer in his hand advertises a Love Filled Weekend in garnish red print with small lettering underneath that states _keep the fire burning _.__ It’s so ridiculously ugly that it takes the last of Lucas’s composure and sends him into a laughing fit. The whole situation is ridiculous. But then Mark glares at him and his lips start to wobble in that way that signals this isn’t the time for Lucas to be acting out. So he swallows down the giggles and schools his face.

“Mark, I don’t think Mr. Lee would ever go all the way to Jeju to keep the fire burning with someone who isn't your mom.” Mark shows no signal that he has heard his words and continues staring at the flyer like it personally wrecked his happy family. Lucas grabs Mark’s hand to distract him from tormenting his nail beds and rubs soothing circles on his wrist. He has never seen his best friend this worked over something like this.

"It might not even be anything like that, you said he's at a conference right? He might just be scouting out a place for their next anniversary."

"Mark." he calls again softly. Mark's face crumples as he tears his gaze away from the flyer. His grip tightens so much that it's almost painful as he pleads. "Drive me to the airport."

"I just need to see it for myself." he smiled but it was sharp around the edges like a marionette whose strings had been pulled a little too tight.

"Okay."

The drive to the airport is silent. Mark stares out the window and didn't hum or even move to turn on the radio like on any other day. It was jarring to see that. Mark loved to sing and carried a notebook to solely scribble song lyrics on almost everywhere. As the reality of the situation slowly sunk in, Lucas really hoped that he wouldn't come to regret taking him to Jeju.

The lady at the help desk stared at them a bored look in her eyes. She didn't look twice at the school uniform Lucas was still wearing in his haste to get Mark to the airport so he could catch the next flight going out to Jeju. Just asked them for their IDs and the method of payment. Lucas paid because he still had his wits together enough to remember that Mark's dad got the credit card bill statement each month. Mark was too out of it even remember that would cause problems. He was still holding Lucas's hand, which although Lucas didn't mind, that set off ringing alarms in the back of his mind.

Mark really wasn't one to be physically affectionate especially in public. Lucas was usually the one initiating any physical contact with Mark shrugging it off or cracking a joke about it. Not the Lucas minded it was just another one of those Mark things that his brain filed away. She handed the tickets over after finding them the 4 p.m. flight out the earliest they could leave on such short notice.

Mark continues to hold his hand through the flight and the taxi ride to the seaside resort. Only when they're at the reception desk does he let go so he could quietly converse with the front desk as to what room Mr. Lee was in. Mark creates a fake story: he was here to help his father surprise his mother on their 20th wedding anniversary but his father had forgotten to tell him the room number. He couldn't call him because he didn't want to ruin the surprise. Couldn't the receptionist help him out just this once? "Aww. You must be such a good son to help your father plan something like this." The receptionist coos at the two of them as she clacked on her keyboard, her red nails glinted in the harsh lighting of the lobby.

"I see one reservation here under Peter Lee, does that sound right dear?" she looked up at them. Mark's face became even paler than it had on the flight. He nodded once a jerky movement that had almost seemed like he hadn't moved at all.

"They'll be in room 2103 on the 4th floor, last door on the right. Good luck with your surprise." She smiled at them.

Mark sprint walked to the elevator and jabbed at the button for the fourth floor. His mouth was pursued and he stared at his shoes as the elevator stopped at each floor. The elevator doors opened and he didn't even wait for Lucas to catch up as he ran down the hall to room 2103.

When Lucas caught up Mark was standing there deathly still. He gripped his jeans with one hand and his knuckles were white as he heard the sounds of a woman's laughter coming from the room. Mark's hand shook as he raised it to knock on the door. Lucas grabs it. There is nothing that would come out of confronting Mr. Lee like this. Even more, now that Lucas is sure whatever sight that's behind the door would destroy Mark's perception of his father beyond repair. He tugs on Mark's hand and drags him to the elevator ignoring Mark's feeble protests. There is nothing that he could say that would convince Lucas to let go at this point anyways.

It's not until they're sitting in the taxi going back to the airport that Mark starts to cry. It's gutwrenching the way the sobs seem to spill out of him and Lucas can nothing but hug him as his body shakes.

"It's going to be okay." Lucas says. But it sounds false coming out of his mouth coating his tongue with a sort of heaviness that doesn't come easy. Lucas prides himself in being good with words but that all seems to have left him now that Mark is a wreck in the backseat of a taxi. He sticks to providing physical comfort in any way that he can now that Mark is this vulnerable.

They get back on the returning flight to Seoul and Lucas lets Mark take the aisle seat. Just in case Mark feels sick and needs to go to the bathroom, he also asks the flight attendant for a blanket and the man takes one look at Mark's swollen eyes and comes back with a cup of ice and a frizzy blanket that says AIR JEJU in bright orange letters.

Mark's grip on his hand loosens as he tucks the blanket around himself hiding his face from the rest of the passengers. He probably feels embarrassed for showing this much emotion in public although Lucas had tried his best to shield him with his body.

"I don't know what to say to my mom." Mark whispers. Lucas finds that words fail him again as he turns to Mark and squeezes his hand. "I had a hard time," He finally breathes out. "When my parents got divorced I cried my eyes out almost every night. But just because they separate doesn't mean they don't love you." 

"At the very least I will be here for you. You know that right." Lucas smiles. Mark's eyes are still red but his face is finally gaining some color the ice had worked. Mark turns from where he was staring at the ice like it held all the answers. He took a deep breath.

'And I-" 

“Please don’t,” Mark says in a rush. he burrows into the scratchy blanket like it could protect him from everything. Like it could protect him from the words they both know Lucas has been swallowing down since he first got hit by the shining sun that was Mark Lee in 1st grade. His face is blank and he tightens his grip on Lucas’s hand as he rips his heart apart. The icy feeling in his stomach spreads so much so that Mark’s light hold on his hand burns. "I can't lose you too."

The words sit heavy in the pit of his stomach, a reminder of what will never be. Even before when there had been a delicate balance between them. Lucas had hoped-- no that isn't the correct word-- he had prayed with every fiber of his being that Mark had felt even a fraction of what he felt towards him. And now in the cramped seat of an $18 flight to Jeju where he had almost laid himself bare. He felt his world come crashing down around him. And oh that voice in his head was now whispering what a terrible friend he was. How could he be throwing a pity party when Mark was the one who had just had his whole life shattered. How could he be so selfish .

Lucas shifts his gaze away from Mark's still trembling figure and tried to focus on the passing clouds by the window. He had been so sure of his place in Mark's life that even if those feelings weren't returned he could still be in Mark Lee's orbit as a friend. He hadn't factored in the chances of what would happen if precarious lines drawn between them were crossed.

He finds himself dropping Mark off and going home in a haze. Doesn't bother to even take off his uniform although the events of the day still clinging to him like a second skin. Sleep is welcome though it evades his grasp as his mind begins churning out different scenarios of what could of happen if he had just kept his mouth shut. But it eventually comes and like all things

The next morning he checks his phone for his usual good morning text from Mark and finds it unusually empty. Lucas tries not to let his anxiety get the best of him and chalks it up to the stressful events of the previous night. It would be very understandable if Mark didn't want to talk to anyone at this time. Even more so for Mark to not want to come to school today. It wouldn't be very helpful for Lucas to assume he would continue to act normal. It would be best for him to give Mark a little space.

So he got ready and drove past Mark's house on the way to school. Both of the cars were gone signaling that Mark's dad had probably driven him to school today. Lucas let out a sigh of relief at that. Maybe they had seen wrong at the hotel. Or maybe the events of the previous day were all some messed up dream. Student parking is at the end of the street just past the school gate and it gives him a good enough view to see the sight of Mark holding hands with the junior captain of the basketball team Jeno Lee.


End file.
